Lincoln City v Gateshead, 20th September 2011

Venue: Sincil Bank, Lincoln 

Attendance: 1,587

Final score: 1-0

 

 

Football, is officially a wonderful, if rather unpredictable, sport.  Regular readers may have noticed that I missed the game against Luton on Saturday – due to having a lovely long weekend in Paris.  I was therefore able to get the score, but only catch up with the nitty gritty when I got back, and too late to really write anything.  Whatever the circumstances of yet another defeat-despite-playing-well game, it was firmly put to bed tonight as the Imps gained a massive (and somewhat unlikely) 3 points against top of the table Gateshead.

City made a few changes to the starting lineup, with Josh Gowling and Danny Hone starting in the centre of defence.  Adam Watts was on the bench (presumably having been coaxed out of his house with pieces of cheese after his admission of being ashamed to be seen in public).  Christophe played in front of the back four, as City adopted a 4-3-3 formation for the first time in a while.

It was clear from the opening passages of play that Gateshead were not at the top for nothing.  Their patience and composure on the ball, even in defence, was impressive, as was the turn of pace upfront.  City began well and were clearly up for the fight, but like most Imps fans I was thinking that a draw would have been a very creditable result.

City probed well for the opening quarter of an hour, but were suffering from the invisible magic wall that seems to sit on the 18 yard line.  Getting the ball up to that point seems very easy, but as soon as the magic wall is crossed shots lose their power, crosses hit the first defender and loose balls magnetically go towards the nearest opposing player.

McCallum and Russell were looking particularly feisty, and McCallum in particular continues to look hungrier and fitter than he did last season, driving forward and making good decisions with his passing.

Gateshead were looking dangerous, and started to get more into the game as the half wore on.  Their ability to consistently deliver dangerous crosses and set pieces meant that the threat of conceding was ever present and the City defence couldn’t afford to lapse for a second.  This was in sharp contrast to City’s deliveries, which are certainly an area that need working on, as time after time the ball was meekly delivered rather than being driven into the danger area.

The pathetically small home crowd applauded the team off at half time, and the encouraging noise made all match was very pleasing to hear, and I’m sure played no small part in the players’ performance.

The second half began with a bang, but thankfully for City the bang was the ball hitting the upright from Carruthers' head, as the visitors came out of the blocks quickly.

City continued to battle, though it looked as if they might never break through a stubborn Gateshead defence.

The addition of Smith for Perry on 67 minutes did little to enliven City’s attack, as the big striker still continues to look aimless on the ball, and despite apparently being quick always seemed to be easily beaten to the chase.

The breakthrough came on 76 minutes, when Nutter finally played in a decent cross which found Ali Fuseini’s head, and the diminutive midfielder nodded the ball down to beat Farman at his post to score his first goal for the Imps.

The celebration on the touchline showed how much the goal meant to the entire squad, and if any fans were in doubt as to how much more committed this team is compared to last season’s, these scenes said it all.

The frustration began to show from Gateshead, as they seemed to have expected at least a draw from the game, and their play became scrappier, though no less nerve-wracking from a City perspective.  City finally had their tails up, though, and were breaking up play with determination, running the clock down as best they could.

The relief at the final whistle was palpable, and players and fans could celebrate a hard earned win.  If the players were lacking confidence before the game, then this win should give them the boost they need to get the season kick-started and start to pick up points again, starting on Saturday against Forest Green Rovers.

LINCOLN CITY
1 Joe Anyon
13 Tony Sinclair
6 Danny Hone
5 Josh Gowling
3 John Nutter
8 Alan Power
10 Ali Fuseini
27 Jean-Francois Christophe
15 Simon Russell
9 Kyle Perry
30 Gavin McCallum
Substitutes
14 Sam Smith for Perry 67
19 Bradley Barraclough for McCallum 82
4 Adam Watts
17 Nicky Nicolau
23 Josh O'Keefe

GATESHEAD
13 Paul Farman
2 Eddie Odhiambo
5 James Curtis
6 Ben Clark
20 Chris Carruthers
4 Kris Gate
8 Phil Turnbull
11 Michael Cummins
16 Josh Gillies
9 Jon Shaw
10 Yemi Odubade
Substitutes
3 Sam Rents for Carruthers 61
18 Kyle Nix for Gate 70
15 Gary Mulligan for Cummins 85
12 Nathan Fisher
24 Jak Alnwick

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Lincoln City v Kettering Town, 10th September 2011

Venue: Sincil Bank, Lincoln 

Attendance: 2,269

Final score: 0-2

It seems like a long time ago now since Lincoln met Kettering in a bad tempered (off the pitch at least) FA Cup encounter.  Both teams have had varied luck since then, but it was Kettering who somehow left Sincil Bank with all three points in this Blue Square Premier encounter.

In front of a home crowd that is getting worse every match (2,200 people used to be a poor turnout for a Johnson’s Paint Trophy game, let alone a Saturday afternoon league match), City were desperate to get some rare points on the board. 

City began with Taylor and Smith up front, and with Barraclough starting on the left in place of McCallum (see later on in this post for some thoughts on these starting partnerships).

City began brightly, and controlled the first half almost entirely against an enormous and physical Kettering team.  The Imps pushed for an opening goal repeatedly, but were denied by solid defending and good work by Kettering keeper Walker, who made a number of important saves, including a one on one.

I think the first half was the best I have seen Ali Fuseini play, as he was not only feeding the attack, but on a number of occasions tracked back well to nick the ball from a sleeping Kettering midfielder.

Kettering themselves offered little in the way of attack, and although the fear of being hit by a long ball counter attack was present, in reality Joe Anyon could have had a picnic in his goalmouth without being disturbed by anything other than ants.

Despite not getting the breakthrough goal, City’s play had been bright and promising, and the fans deservedly cheered them off at the break.

The second half sadly brought unhappier tidings.  City began where they left off, with high tempo attacking play, but there began to be a sense that they were running out of ideas against a Kettering side that had come to get nothing more than a clean sheet, and fielded a team of 20-stone octopuses instead of footballers.

When Kettering took the lead on 63 minutes, it was almost laughable.  With the ball entering the City box for what must have been the first time, and certainly with Kettering’s first attempt on goal, when a loose ball was fired home into the bottom corner by Jean-Paul Marna.

The sense of disbelief and panic in the Lincoln team was obvious, and from that moment on they never looked like getting back into the match, as their earlier composed play deserted them.  When lanky substitute Cunnington managed to get the ball at the edge of the box on 82 minutes, he had three City players in front of him.  Despite tackling him once, the ball was pathetically scrambled back to him by the hapless City defenders.  As he advanced into the box, Christophe carelessly bundled him over to present Kettering with a penalty, and to put the match beyond doubt when Ashikodi stroked the ball home.

Christophe would duly receive his marching orders deep into injury time, after picking up a second yellow for a scything tackle on the touchline.  Although neither the penalty nor Christophe’s yellow cards were the wrong decisions, it did seem slightly ironic that a game in which City had been manhandled to the extent of assault by an extremely physical team had resulted in the Imps being the ones to concede the penalty and be reduced to 10 men.

The final whistle saw the strongest angry outbursts I have yet seen from fans towards Steve Tilson and Chairman Bob Dorrian.

I understand the anger, but I think there needs to be a distinction made between bad performances and bad results. The first half was a GOOD performance. We should have scored, and a top team most certainly would have done, but everybody applauded the team off. The second half was worse, but we were still the better team up until the point they scored. Don't get me wrong, something is most definitely in need of fixing, but it's not that the team is playing terribly. Any fan that thinks that our play deserves to be called 'terrible' must have been watching a different match to me or have a very short memory indeed.

So what is it that is wrong?  Are the players not good enough?  Is the team selection wrong?  Is our style of play wrong?

To tackle these in order, firstly, I don’t think that our players aren’t good enough for this level.  I really believe that we have some talent in the team, alongside a genuine desire to win.  The one thing I might venture to suggest is that the players seem somewhat delicate in terms of confidence, but that is true of all footballers, especially at this level.

So is Tilson sending the wrong players out?  With a squad as small as ours, its difficult to see how many changes could be made, but looking at certain partnerships, even this early in the season, is interesting.  So far, the following key pairings have started games:

Central defence: Gowling and Nelson – 2 games

                        Gowling and Hone – 2 games

                        Gowling and Watts – 4 games

Central midfield: Power and Fuseini – 8 games

Up front:            Perry and Barraclough – 2 games

                        Perry and Smith – 3 games

                        Taylor and Smith – 3 games

It seems clear that through all this chopping and changing, Tilson can’t decide on his best defensive and attacking pairings, but these are the positions that benefit most from stability.  As I’ve said before, Perry and Taylor would, on previous goalscoring records, seem our best attacking pair, yet they have never started a match together.  Smith, on the other hand, seems to me to always look a little lost and unable to make much of an impact on matches, yet has started 6 out of 8 matches.

So is it our style of play that is at fault?  I think that this is perhaps the key question.  We have played some good, attractive football at times this season - passing and movement that last year’s team could only dream of, yet we still cannot put teams away.  I think that this is partly down to us not being physical enough.  Playing pretty football is not enough – we also need to be able to rough other teams up, as they have been doing to us.  The refereeing performances in the opening 8 matches have made it perfectly clear that some of the physical tactics used against us are legitimate at this level, so we should learn from the experience and try and get hold of some good old fashioned bruisers to accompany the more sophisticated attacking players.  It’s also a case of the manager getting the players fired up before matches and at half time.  Too often we let matches we should be winning drift away from us, then seem unable to raise the tempo and fight back – this Kettering game being an excellent example.

At the very least, players should not be allowed to moonlight in other jobs, as Josh Gowling seems to be doing.  Surely a professional footballer shouldn’t also be modelling children’s clothes in BHS?

LINCOLN CITY
1 Joe Anyon

27 Jean-Francois Christophe

5 Josh Gowling

16 Mitchell Nelson

3 John Nutter

8 Alan Power

10 Ali Fuseini

15 Simon Russell

19 Bradley Barraclough

7 Jamie Taylor

14 Sam Smith
Substitutes
30 Gavin McCallum for Taylor 69

9 Kyle Perry for Smith 69

4 Adam Watts

6 Danny Hone

17 Nicky Nicolau

KETTERING TOWN
12 Laurie Walker

2 Phil Ifil

6 Jerel Ifil

18 George Taft

3 Sol Davis

19 Jamie Clapham

23 Patrick Noubissie

20 David Bridges

21 Nathan Koo-Boothe

7 Moses Ashikodi

10 Jean-Paul Marna
Substitutes24 Adam Cunnington for Bridges 56

16 Steven Meecham for Clapham 56

27 Ibra Sekajja for Ashikodi 88

22 Jaime Navarro

31 Aldi Haxhia

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Braintree Town v Lincoln City, 3rd September 2011

Venue: Cressing Road Stadium, Braintree

Attendance: 1,182

Final score: 1-0

To paraphrase Shakespeare, ‘something is rotten in the state of Lincoln City’.  Another sub-par performance saw the Imps slip to another defeat, against a part-time team no less, as the wheels still firmly refuse to stick to the side of the wagon.

It was difficult to predict how the game might go beforehand.  Braintree are indeed a newly promoted, part-time team, but one that humiliated City’s rivals Grimsby Town 5-0 earlier in the season, and therefore not to be taken too lightly.  Braintree were a few places and 5 points ahead of City before the game, demonstrating that they were adapting to life in the Blue Square Premier better than their supposedly more illustrious opponents.

Tilson made a few changes to the starting lineup, with Christophe becoming a makeshift right back, new loanee Nelson replacing Danny Hone in the centre of the defence, and Barraclough starting up front.

The match started in near disastrous fashion, as Braintree went straight on the attack and nearly scored in the first minute (as Darlington had done earlier in the week).

As the first half settled down, City created the odd half chance, such as McCallum shooting just wide on the quarter hour mark, but Braintree were playing to their strengths – a physical, direct style of play, and City couldn’t enforce their will on the game.

The inevitable goal came on 31 minutes.  A defensive mixup between Gowling and Nelson when trying to spring the offside trap put Yiadom through, and his shot from the edge of the box bobbled past Anyon.

It was almost 2-0 a few minutes afterwards, but a timely challenge from Nutter meant the Imps could scramble it away.  The goal gave Braintree confidence, and they held their heads high at halftime.

Braintree started where they left off after the break, creating a flurry of early chances, one which struck the post.

City eventually began to mount something of a fightback late in the game, but despite substitute Jamie Taylor hitting the underside of the bar, Braintree will no doubt be wondering how they were allowed to win so easily.

For a professional, ex-league club with a number of players and a manager that claim to have credentials higher than League 2, to lose so meekly to a part-time team is, frankly, embarrassing and unacceptable.

The end of the game saw some Imps’ fans expressing their displeasure at both the performance and the result, and despite my desire to remain optimistic this season, it’s hard not to share their frustration.

After picking up a meagre 5 points from 7 games, and after this match slipping into the relegation places, my early season optimism is proving incredibly hard to maintain.  The good performance against Stockport hasn’t been repeated – on the contrary, the two performances following it have been the worst ones of the season.  After looking like we had turned a corner, we now seem to regressing badly, and are not even creating the chances that we once were.  Combined with our leaky defence, the omens are not good.

I still maintain that this team is genuinely trying – a world away from the fecklessness of last season, but results are what count.  As we continue to fail to pick up points, the pressure on the players will rise, the frustration of the fans will grow, and sadly we’ve seen where that cycle of despair leads.

We have some good players in this squad.  Taylor, Russell, Power and McCallum in particular are technically very good at this level.  Taylor and Perry have both proved that they can score bagfuls of goals.  What seems to be lacking is a passionate and tactically astute manager to get them to play together.  Sadly, the vague and muted responses from Steve Tilson after each match are not doing anything to make the supporters love him, or even feel that he has a personality at all, let alone a desire to be at Lincoln.

We find ourselves facing a very familiar dilemma – the players probably are good enough, the manager probably isn’t, but if we sack him, what then?  We’ve had a succession of managers over the last 10 years, and with the exception of the highlights of Keith’s early reign, and the superb football we played under Schofield for 6 months, nobody has done anything even approaching passable.  If Tilson were to go now, who would step in? We are an even more unattractive prospect for a manager now then we were when we hired Tilson.

It gets harder and harder to say that we should stay positive and not get on the players’ backs, but I still make one simple point – Lincoln fans have been whinging at the team almost constantly for the past 5 years and it’s got us absolutely nowhere.  No footballer has ever played better because his own fans jeered him, and I fear that the fans will reap what they sow as the pressure on the players mounts and the attractive football seen against Stockport becomes a distant memory.

BRAINTREE
1 Nathan McDonald
2 Ryan Peters
4 Adam Bailey-Dennis
5 Matt Paine
3 Aswad Thomas
7 Nick Symons
8 Kenny Davis
6 Jai Reason
17 Andy Yiadom
9 Sean Marks
10 Ben Wright

Substitutes
19 Chib Chilaka, for Wright 83
15 Bradley Quinton, for Reason 90+2
16 Patrick O'Connor
22 Ashlee Jones
23 Merrick James-Lewis

LINCOLN CITY
1 Joe Anyon
27 Jean-Francois Christophe
5 Josh Gowling
16 Mitchell Nelson
3 John Nutter
8 Alan Power
10 Ali Fuseini
15 Simon Russell
30 Gavin McCallum
9 Kyle Perry
19 Bradley Barraclough
Substitutes
7 Jamie Taylor, for Perry 56
14 Sam Smith, for McCallum 56
4 Adam Watts
6 Danny Hone
17 Nicky Nicolau

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Darlington v Lincoln City, 29th August 2011

Venue: The Darlington Arena

Attendance: 2,252

Final score: 3-1

 

I have to confess that I was in London for the Bank Holiday weekend, so couldn’t even listen to BBC Lincolnshire’s fine commentary for this match, having to make do with ever more depressing score updates.  In fact, as the match went on, I began to consider myself one of the lucky ones…

There’s a very simple fact in football – if you can’t keep a clean sheet, you are going need to score at least once to get a draw and at least twice to win a match.  Such a goalscoring rate is, of course, impossible to maintain.  Therefore, if you want to do well at football, stopping the opposition scoring is crucial.  This simple philosophy seems to be eluding City at the moment.  We have lost 3 and drawn 2 matches this season, yet have only failed to score once (against Kidderminster).

City made a few changes to the starting lineup, with Danny Hone starting instead of Adam Watts in defence, and Kyle Perry and Sam Smith partnering each other up front.  I confess to being a little worried about the constant ‘striker swapping’ this season.  It seems that Steve Tilson doesn’t yet know what his best partnership is – hence a new combination seemingly every match.  Surely trying to give a partnership time to settle in will prove beneficial in the long run?

As I said, I missed the commentary on the game, so can only really relay the basic facts.  City conceded in less than a minute when Bowman fired home from the edge of the box.  Although City seem to have stopped the rot and got to halftime still in the match, the second half quickly turned sour, with Bowman getting his second on 5 minutes and then fed Campbell for number three just five minutes later.  Despite Power getting his second goal in successive games on 71 minutes with a long range drive, the match was beyond City, and it seems that Darlington saw the game out with little worry.

I warned in my comments after the superb performance against Stockport that we shouldn’t get carried away, but I have to confess that I predicted at least a draw here.  Sadly the team doesn’t seem to have performed close to that level, and will need to pick themselves up again.  Six games into the season, City sit in a lowly 18^th position, level on points with the top relegation place.  Good performances or no, points need to start being gained by fair means or foul before City find themselves struggling to climb the table.

DARLINGTON
23 Sam Russell
22 Ben Purkiss
18 Graeme Lee
6 Ian Miller
5 Greg Taylor
16 John McReady
2 Paul Arnison
12 Ryan Bowman
8 Kris Taylor
11 John Campbell
20 Adam Rundle

Substitutes
10 Jamie Walshaw, for Campbell 62
4 Jamie Chandler, for Rundle 68
7 Liam Hatch, for Bowman 76
14 Chris Atkinson
31 Marc Bridge-Wilkinson

LINCOLN CITY
1 Joe Anyon
13 Tony Sinclair
5 Josh Gowling
6 Danny Hone
3 John Nutter
8 Alan Power
10 Ali Fuseini
15 Simon Russell
30 Gavin McCallum
9 Kyle Perry
14 Sam Smith
Substitutes
27 Jean-Francois Christophe, for Sinclair 10
7 Jamie Taylor, for Smith 63
19 Bradley Barraclough, for Perry 72
17 Nicky Nicolau
20 Doug Lindberg

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Lincoln City v Stockport County, 26th August 2011

Venue: Sincil Bank, Lincoln

Attendance: 2,152

Final score: 1-1

Sometimes you just don’t get what you deserve in football.  In this battle of the relegated teams City battled, strutted, played some sublime football and generally worked their socks off.  Unbelievably, the match ended in a draw, though City created enough chances to win three matches - in the end being denied the win by the woodwork, a stubborn Stockport defence and a less than convincing refereeing performance.

Stockport sat just above the Imps on 6 points before the game, having drawn both their previous away games.

After a miserably rainy day, the evening actually turned out to be good footballing weather – balmy and with no wind.  The wet surface certainly made it a night for testing goalkeepers from range, however.

City made two changes from the team that won at AFC Telford, with Perry and Barraclough, the two substitutes that had made the difference in that match, brought into the starting 11 at the expense of Taylor and Smith.  I find it interesting that Perry and Taylor haven’t yet been paired up front together at all, considering that they have the best goalscoring records at this level and would surely fit the 'big man, small man' template.

City set out their intentions from the start, attacking aggressively, with Gavin McCallum tearing pieces out of the Stockport right back Brahim-Bounab (who would be subbed halfway through the first half).  McCallum seems a different player this season – his confidence, pace and close control seeming a world away from the player we saw last season.

The lead was taken early, and it was Power who scored the goal, though it was more about precision than power as he curled a neat shot into the far corner from just inside the area after a scramble in the box.

The referee was letting the play flow in the early stages (in sharp contrast to his later behaviour) and it was allowing City to find their feet.  A second goal was denied the Imps after an inch perfect freekick found Gowling’s diving head, and the City skipper swung away to celebrate, unaware that the linesman had flagged for offside, though from where I was sitting it seemed impossible that the Imps’ skipper himself had strayed.

The threat of being caught by a suckerpunch was ever present, and it was Stockport’s bulky striker Tom Elliott who looked the most dangerous.  Although not getting much service, it was clear that Elliott is a very good player at this level, and his touch and movement seemed effortless whenever Stockport had the ball.

Just as City were looking to hold out for half time, it was Elliott who provided the blow that would ultimately deny City all three points.  His glancing header from the edge of the box sneaked past Anyon before clipping the inside of the post, and rolled slowly across the goal before crossing the line.  It was a good header, but the contact with the post could have taken it anywhere, and it was cruel luck for the Imps that the woodwork favoured Stockport now and would prove just as unkind in the second half.

The second half would be marked by a noticeable change in the referee’s consistency, and the love affair that seemed to have blossomed between him and his whistle over halftime.

Stockport actually came out of the blocks flying, and for the first five minutes it seemed as is City wouldn’t be able to regain their first half dominance.  That doubt was soon laid to rest, however, as City began to once again hammer on Stockport’s door, Barraclough in particular looking lively and dangerous.  I think Barraclough is another player I’m going to like this season – he has a great desire to run and has the ability and confidence to take on defenders.  If I had to make a tiny criticism of him, it’s that he often tries to take on too many defenders when a simple pass would be the better option.  His passing was often off target, however, meaning that he is wont to give possession away a little too often.  However, he is still young, and I’m sure his decision making will improve in time.

City came closest to retaking the lead when McCallum (who else), smashed an audacious 25 yard effort off the front of the crossbar, with Glennon well beaten.

The danger of conceding a sloppy goal yet again reared its head, though, as a scramble on the edge of the box almost led to Stockport getting a clean shot at goal, before Gowling cleared with a bizarre (if a little reckless) ground level diving header.

The woodwork would yet again come to Stockport’s aid soon afterwards, as a freekick to Lincoln well outside the box was pushed to Power, whose powerful effort took a slight deflection before hammering against the underside of the bar.  After conceding from good freekicks a few times already this season, it was unlucky that City couldn’t benefit from one.

City had two late penalty appeals as Stockport’s defending started to get a little ragged.  First McCallum seemed to be pulled back in the box, then Smith was clearly dragged over while stretching for a ball at the back post.  Both were good shouts for penalties but the referee, who had been giving niggly decisions throughout the second half, seemed unable to make the big decisions, no matter how blatant they were.  I’m not one of those fans who likes to blame referees – they do a very tough job – but sadly the standard of refereeing and linesmanning (is that a word?) in the Blue Square Premier seems poor, and I fear that more frustrating decisions await us in the games ahead.

The blowing of the final whistle meant that City had only gained a point from a match that could, and should, have yielded three.  However, the work rate and quality of football were recognised by the crowd, and the players should be under no doubt that the fans were proud of them.  I would stick my neck out and plainly state that I don’t believe that this team would have been relegated from League 2 last year.

I think we need to be careful not to get carried away, however.  This was City’s best performance of the season, and comes on the back of two other good performances, but we’ve seen in seasons past that good attacking form can come to an end (especially if performances are not turned into goals and wins).  Instead, we should see this as a very encouraging step along the road. Let’s not forget amid all the excitement that we didn’t actually win – we couldn’t turn chances into goals, as a top of the table side surely would have done.  We also failed to keep a clean sheet, when Stockport were restricted to very few chances in the match.

So overall, a very solid performance from the Imps, another point gained, but we need to keep this level up if we are really going to challenge for the playoffs or better this season - the bar has been set.

LINCOLN CITY
1 Joe Anyon
13 Tony Sinclair
4 Adam Watts
5 Josh Gowling
3 John Nutter
8 Alan Power
10 Ali Fuseini
15 Simon Russell
30 Gavin McCallum
9 Kyle Perry
19 Bradley Barraclough
Substitutes
7 Jamie Taylor, for Barraclough 74
14 Sam Smith, for Perry 81
6 Danny Hone
17 Nicky Nicolau
27 Jean-Francois Christophe

STOCKPORT COUNTY
1 Matt Glennon
21 Nabil Brahim-Bounab
5 Danny O'Donnell
22 Carl Piergianni
3 Euan Holden
7 Sean McConville
14 Sam Sheridan
4 Jon Routledge
10 John Miles
19 Nick Chadwick
20 Tom Elliott
Substitutes
16 Ryan Mccann, for Brahim-Bounab 21
24 Elliott Chamberlain, for Miles 74
8 John Nolan, for Chadwick 81
9 Martin Gritton
12 Ian Ormson

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